Hand stamped Easter Cards

 
Today, for the first time in MONTHS I got busy in my craft room and made some Easter cards! I had such a great time creating these cards. Above is the two versions of the more spiritual of the two cards.

All the cards were made almost entirely with Stampin Up! supplies and products. The only products that were not Stampin Up! were the cross stamp, Happy Easter stamp and flowers on the cards with a bird on them. The above yellow flowers were stamped and punched out with a coordinating punch.

The double matted frames were cut out with my Sissix Big Shot using "framelets" die cuts.

I love that I was able to use my paper scraps to create the cards above. The 3/4 inch strips across the bottom of each card were perfect for that.

In a few of these cards I used blue and pink flowers

and in a few of the cards I used these gorgeous coral flowers which are actually layered paper stickers by Martha Stewart.

This bird was stamped and cut out with a coordinating punch that I've had for years but had yet to use! It felt great to break out the supplies and get crafty today. I made 10 cards total.

Do you have a hobby that you enjoy? Today made me realize I need to make the time much more often for my paper crafting. I truly love it.

Valentine's Day decor 2013

I'm finally getting around to posting the pictures from my Valentine decor for this year. As I've said before I love the fact that I have a white/galley style kitchen. It lends itself to decorating it in any style or color which is perfect for my love of decorating for all of the holidays. The galley style is ideal because it is completely separate from the rest of the house. I could decorate it in pink and black and it wouldn't "clash" with the rest of the decor in the house!

So in this case, the holiday decor focus is on Valentine's Day. Here is my sink with kitchen window. I love the little "alcove tile shelf" above my sink. First and foremost I love that I can open those windows on a warm day and let the cool breeze come in. Secondly I love all the natural light the windows brings in. Lastly I love that I can decorate the shelf! At Christmas I put our Christmas Village on the shelf and it was so wonderful there. For Valentine's Day I put the "BE MINE" wooden blocks that I painted and decorated with scrap book paper several years back.

I hung a vintage plate on either side of the window. Underneath one of the plates in a wooden heart hanging.

Under the other plate I hung this fun rosette hanging I made at my friend and Stampin Up! Demonstrator Krista's house last year.

 

Here are the BE MINE blocks close up.

I additionally adorned the kitchen counters with these fun decoupage heart boxes that my Mom made many years ago. They are so fun to get out every year. Every year they bring with them lots of thoughts of love as I remember my Mom who passed away five years ago. She was very artistic and loved to create all kinds of crafts. She also loved to decorate her home for the holidays. She definitely passed on those loves to me!

Here is a fun heart on a finial that I found in old town Temecula and The Farmer's Wife 3 years ago.

I put a red place mat under neath the coffee maker and another one of my Mom's decorated heart boxes out with my Stevia sweetener packets inside. I found the little vintage heart ornament at World Market this year.

Four years ago when I worked at a scrap booking store I purchased a couple of these decorated chip board heart ornaments. I came home and made more. Enough to cover this little white iron "tree". I call this the "tree of hearts".

I hung red towels on the double ovens.

When you step down into the galley kitchen there is this perfect little "nook" where I keep my iron corner shelf. Of course I loaded it up with Valentine's decor.

The top shelf has my framed "collage art" I made of paper, stamps and stickers many years back.

This Susan Branch book on LOVE was from my Mom as was another one of her hand painted heart boxes. It says "Remember Me   Love Always" I truly believe that approximately 10 years prior to my Mom's death she began to sense that she would not be with us as long as she would have wanted. Many of her gifts (including this one) reflect that.

Because I was in need of a red plate to complete this display, I dug out the "You are special today" plate along with a couple of Mary Engelbreight heart boxes. I've had the plate since 1996. Whenever one of the kids would have a good report card, Kevin would get a raise or promotion, or any of us was having a birthday etc....that person would eat on the "special today" plate. We still use the plate to this day and I plan on using it with future grandchildren too.

I hope you all had a Happy Valentine's Day!!!